Congratulations to Niclas Hammarström who was nominated in the Swedish Picture of the Year Award contest! The winners will be announced on March 8th in Sundsvall. More information about Årets Bild is available on their webpage: www.aretsbild.se

The whole Kontinent team is very happy to welcome home our colleague and friend Niclas Hammarström and journalist Magnus Falkehed!

Niclas and Magnus landed on January 9th in Stockholm after 46 days of captivity in Syria. They first had the chance to spend some time with their relatives before doing a press conference for the Swedish media.

The Kontinent members are concerned and sadden by the news that our friend and colleague Niclas Hammarström, together with journalist Magnus Falkehed, were abducted while on their way out of Syria, close to the border with Lebanon.

Ola Torkelsson was allowed to photograph detainees through a slot in the steel door.
The prisoners gathered in a common room in prison to pray. Photo by Ola Torkelsson / Kontinent

Interview with Photojournalist Ola Torkelsson.

How did you get access?

We contacted The Guantanamo Base by the U.S. Military and sent a request. They organize tours for the press on a regular basis.

Where you regulated in what you could photograph in there?

Yes, the working circumstances was very regulated. The military guards tells you what is allright or not to photograph. But I guess just to show the uncomfortable environment tells a lot about the absurd reality for the prisoners who are detained in here.

Were your pictures censored?

The military looked through all my memory cards after a days work. And deleted the ones they presumed to sensitive to be shown for the public.

You are not allowed to show any prisoners face. Some areas or departments are also strictly prohibited to photograph.

Camp No, is one of these restricted areas were they detain the “high security inmates”, an area named for the answer you always receive when you ask about it´s existence, “No, it´s not existing”. Anyway, I managed to take some photographs at “Camp No” but those pictures were deleted directly .

Can you describe in words the content of any of these deleted images ?

A camp far away with buildings.

Did you have any contact with the prisoners?

No, not directly but we had (through a prisoner’s Attorney) received permission to interview a specific prisoner but the military said No. But when I was photographing a corridor inside one of the prison buildings, some of the interns tried to communicate with us and managed to shout out a message in Arabic.

- “The army # U.S. # not leave detainee in Guantánamo to take pray in Ramadan or to take anything . ( ” U.S. army does not let the inmates at Guantanamo pray during Ramadan or do anything “)

Kontinent Photographer Niclas Hammarström and Reporter Staffan Heimerson received the Swedish award of “Journalist of the Year” by Sveriges Tidskrifter for their publication on Syria in the magazine Café.